Kenneth (Ken) Herbert, a founding member of Kogarah Bay Sailing Club 70 years ago, has posthumously been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Australia Day honours.
Mr Herbert, of Sylvania, who died on August 18, 2018 at 86, was secretary of the club from 1965-2016.
The award recognises his “service to sailing”, including helping to establish the Sailability program in 2001.
The program provides a weekly sailing experience for school children with a disability from Sutherland Shire and Georges River council areas.
Mr Herbert’s contribution to scouting over many years was also highlighted.
He performed a range of roles from 1975 including, honorary commissioner of South Metropolitan Region.
He was group leader of 1st Sylvania Scout Group for 14 years and chair of the Boree Regatta from 2001-2005.
Kogarah Bay Sailing Club commodore Cliff Lewis said Mr Herbert had been “part of the club since its inception in 1949”.
“Ken would never miss the opportunity to tell new members of the golden days of sailing when more than 40 boats would be racing on Kogarah Bay,” he said.
“In his time with the club he has held nearly every voluntary role on the committee and in his later years he held the secretary and race starters role.
“Without people like Ken club’s like ours would not exist.
“Ken has been a mentor to many; with his skill as a sailor he was able to pass on that skill by teaching many to sail and achieve great things in the sport of sailing.
“It seems to me that Ken’s life has been one of service to the community – from his professional career as an optometrist helping people to see, to the years of service to the scouting movement.
“In addition, he was a founding member of Salability Kogarah Bay for which he received an award in 2010.
“Ken was also been nominated to receive 2017 Banks electorate volunteer of the year award.
“When nominating Ken for the award one of the criteria was that he had gone out of his way to support the local community, that sort of sums up Ken in my opinion.”
